manufacturing sector

You may not know the name Homer Laughlin, a china factory in Newell, W.Va., but you'll likely recognize — or have eaten off of — its most famous product: brightly colored, informal pottery called Fiesta.

While most of America's china factories have closed, unable to compete with "made in China" or Japan or Mexico, Homer Laughlin, which set up shop on the banks of the Ohio River in 1873, is still going strong. It employs about 1,000 people.

The Briggs & Stratton plant in Murray has produced 70 million small engines since it opened in 1985; an average of nearly 2.6 million engines a year. At a press conference today Engine Products Group President Joseph Wright said the demand for quality engines allows them to keep that production domestic.

Kentucky is reporting a slight decline in its jobless rate in September despite a major loss of manufacturing jobs. The Office of Employment and Training released new unemployment figures today showing the jobless rate at 8.4 percent. That's down from 8.5 percent in August. The manufacturing sector loss 2,000 jobs in September.